Monday, January 21, 2008

Republicans and Martin Luther King: The Unvarnished Truth

They weren't that into him. They're still not, but they don't say so as blatantly any more.

* St. [John] McCain, a leading Republican presidential candidate, voted against the 1983 law to make King's birthday a national holiday

* Ron Paul, another Republican presidential candidate, published a newsletter that referred to the holiday as "Hate Whitey Day"

* Mitt Romney lied about seeing his father march with King [and, truth be told, also lied by saying he himself marched with MLK: "My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit."]

* 18 of the 22 senators who opposed that 1983 law -- including Trent Lott and Orrin Hatch -- were Republicans

* Vice President Dick Cheney, as a congressman, voted against a 1979 measure to make King's birthday a national holiday

* The red states of Arizona and New Hampshire, didn't recognize the King Holiday until 2000

* It took until 2000 for [Mitt] Willard [Romney]'s beloved Utah to finally change their "Human Rights Day" to officially honor Martin Luther King

* South Carolina, the reddest of red states, was the last state to recognize the holiday as a paid holiday for state employees